ART BTEC 2015 intake!

Thursday, 21 May 2015

A short video we put together (big thanks to former student Jade Evans for her work on this). The video gives a quick taster of work (and life) on the Art Foundation and BTEC Extended Diploma Courses at Alton. In it you will see a diverse range of work: Graphics, Photography, Fashion, Illustration, Fine Art, Animation, 3D Design, Textiles ...all areas you can specialise in on our courses.

Thursday, 14 May 2015

For the 8th June
Bring in digital cameras, sketchbooks with completed study leave work, money
for film and lots of objects
to do with your life cycle for
studio photography. Film is
£4.00 and A6 pack of photo paper 100 is £10(best
to club together in 4s to buy this, you might also invest in some A4 photo
paper @ 50p a sheet).

See the brief for full details
of the study leave work (previous post), in short you should have completed:

College Work

Mindmaps and sketchbook imagery moodboards
for your chosen life cycle.

First Photoshoot.

Drawings directly from objects associated
with your lifecycle or from your photographs, at least one good sustained full
page piece plus additional drawings exploring media, technique and different working
timespans.

Gold Card print/s based on your imagery to
date and one or more monoprints.

Study Leave Tasks

An additional photoshoot.

Research and analysis into 2 well designed
existing leaflets.

Artist research – look at one Artist from each of the
8 lists, gather imagery and information and answer the questions in the brief
for all 8 of them.

Choose 2 Artists from your research to base
visual work on. Produce at least 4 of your own images in the style of these 2 Artists
(2 for each), these responses should be based on YOUR OWN photographs – not just direct copies of existing works by
the Artists you have selected.

You will experience the area
of Graphic Design, how to mindmap , develop slogans, captions and take these
through to a concept. This project requires you use photography and create your
own inventively manipulated imagery.It
encourages you to explore different visual language within Art & Design
i.e. the difference between abstract figuration, collage and photomontage.

Study Leave : Monday 18 May – Monday 8 June
( 1wk study leave, 1 wk of half term and a further week of study leave)

Lessons return
:Monday 8 June. Bring
completed study leave work to Rm 522for photography workshops using life cycles
imagery.This week you will have
workshop lessons in photography giving you introductions into studioshowing you film processing, dark room and
experimental working including photogrammes and sandwich prints.:

MONDAY 8TH – Introduction
to Studios .Bring in digital cameras,
sketchbooks, money for film and 3 objects to do with your life cycle .Film is £4.00 and A6 pack of
photo paper 100 is £10. You can share this to make things cheaper but you will
need to have some money available this week to be able to do these activities.

TUESDAY 9TH – Take
photos

WEDNESDAY 10TH – Film
processing

Thursday 11th – Dark room, working
with negatives and experimenting in darkroom

Friday 12th – Ditto

YOU WILL BE FOLLOWING SUMMATIVE
UNITSTHERE IS ONE CHANCE ONLY TO COVER THIS CRITERIA, USE LESSON TIMES WISELY
IN PHOTOGRAPHY :

Normal
Timetable resumes : Monday 15 June – Wednesday 8 July ( 3.5 weeks).You will be based in either 861/3 or 522 in
photography.

On
the theme of ‘life cycles’ you are to produce a 6 sided leaflet on 1 stage in life (see list). Within the leaflet
you will need to follow a grid format that will form part of your leaflet. You
will use workshops within lessons to explore a wide variety of techniques and
processes.

You will need to pay a
nominal amount towards specialist materials such as spray paint etc

Workshops inexpressive and controlled drawing some of these
during study leave:

·printmaking - monoprints, gold card, letterpress

·photography – 2
good shoots working within your theme, using dramatic lighting and extreme
viewpoints.You must use locations photography
and studio based experimentation

·sewing machine

·acetate collage

·spraypaint stencils

·collage

·image transfer with emulsion

·photomontage

·food colouring/ink and bleach

·pencil/biro drawing

·hand rendered slogans and sayings

LIFE CYCLES to choose from:

Birth

Parenthood

Toddler

Divorce

TeenagerMidlife
Crisis

LoveRetirement

MarriageDeath

PROCEDURE:

Weeks 1/2

Produce at least 1 page of initial brainstorming for
at least 2 of the life cycles

2.Choose 1 to explore in much more depth and produce ( 6 pages ) . This should include: mindmapping, word association, mood boards, photographs,
photocopies of objects, magazine cuttings, extracts from poems, slogans,
observational drawings etc.Write down everything to do with an idea not just a single word but
everything to do with that theme: e.g.
marriage could be brainstormed in the following way: - an American Las Vegas styled marriage.

Brainstorm: Las Vegas , the chapel of love, Elvis
impersonator, side burns, 1 armed bandits, double your money, everyone a winner
, poker, lots of tack gold, American flag, dollars signs, Stretch Limousine Cadillacs,
wedding lyrics, four weddings and a funeral, white veil, Elvis white jumpsuit,
renting a witness, best man, lady in waiting lyrics from songs about getting
married, honeymoon suites, the film ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ and famous sayings from
this.All of these words could be
visualised in varying imgery, textures, found objects and marks – make yours as
exciting as possible!

When
considering what to put down, try to avoid the ‘cut and paste’ syndrome of
putting anything down and it looking obvious.Try rather to select carefully and treat images by using processes to
make more subtle statements.Arrange
your elements carefully before sticking and attaching these.

Come up with a definite ‘concept’.A concept is a strong idea that follows
a particular slant on atheme and that could be interpreted in many ways, i.e.
different ways to get married to mightbe :- a tacky wedding ceremony inLas Vegas, an extreme parachuting/ bungee jumping experience
or‘my big fat gypsy wedding’ .

Begin to generate ideas for a photo-shoot by producing planningstoryboards
showing extreme viewpoints - close ups, low angle, high angle, things
in and out focus, shadows, lighting, action and movement.Make it achievable for yourself by using
friends and family easily available
in locations that you can return to if necessary. This is needed in the
first week – do not hang around take photos really quickly! Produce at
least 1 strongphoto shoot of 10
images using specific locations, considering light, props and camera
angle.. Translate these images in class and at home.

Select
apt slogans to work with to relate to your life cycle and begin experimenting with techniques to enrich
your work.Begin to develop layouts, thumbnail
sketches, using text along with image . Develop positive or negative
slogans to accompany your images [brainstorm ideas in groups and on an
individual basis].

RESEARCH TO BE DONE OVER STUDY LEAVE

Research 2 well designed leaflets.Photograph or stick in, or print off examples of creative leaflets
you can find.Look in the student
union, music shops, retail shops to find examples of good layout. Annotate
and answer the following:

How does information flow from one panel to the
next?

How is colour, text and image unified?Comment on the layout

Is there a regular position/scale/ for the text
on the page?

How is the type face integrated or contrasted
with the other imagery?

How is the front and back cover connected?

How many images are used?

What is the tone of the the message? ie fun and
feel good, shocking and serious etc

Can you explain how ideas and images have they
been cleverly put together?

ARTISTS

Look at one artist or designer
from each of the 8 lists. Collect
information on each and analyse their work.Answer the following questions:

How have they composed their imagery?

What media have they used?

What processes and techniques have been included and what do you
think about them?

What mood, idea or concept does it reflect?

Do you think the work is successful?Why?

What style would you say this work reflects?

What makes this work interesting?

Work in the style of 2 of these artists/designers and produce
2 images that reflect their work
using some of your own photos.

9.Have a look at http://www.handmadefont.com/ and look at the handmade fonts. Make your own homemade
font and photograph each letter separately using found objects or materials on
white paper. Make it appropriate to your idea and use materials that are
fitting to your theme ie an addiction theme forteenagers may be made up from cigarette butts.

N.B before Study Leave you will be expected to clear
out your drawers and take all work home. by Friday 16 MayBe warned
anything left in drawers will be thrown!

On your return on Monday 8thJune you will be assessed at this time to see if you have
enough work to pass this stage to date on this project.You will be working in photography learning
some techniques and processes..:

Weeks 3, 4 and 5, :

6.Continue to develop ideas within workshop
sessions.Aim to have a considerable
amount of experimental ideas.

7.Having developed your images begin to consider the
format. You are to include a grid for one of your panels within the leaflet.The
size of your Leaflet should be 28 x 14cms.Within each Leaflet you should produce 1 page that is equally divided
into 8 sections [each section is 7 x 7cms] This can be on any of the sides.It
could be that the Leaflet is unfolded to reveal a central page or be any other
of the panelsOther panels can be
developed as you wish but must look appropriate to the 8 grid section. For each of the boxes you should show a
developed image using the following in any order:

·Abstract:

An
image showing a section, portion or heavily cropped image that has been
developed using paint\expressive mark making.

·Representational:

An
image taken from observation or a photograph that resembles an object or figure.

·Linear:

An
image using line only but can involve colour and surface additionally.

·Collage:

An
image using found materials newspapers, magazines, fabrics, metals etc.

An
image made up entirely from layered text using provocative statements,
information, famous sayings, a line from a poem, personal important diary entry
dates etc.Your message should be clear
and emphatic and come from your life cycle.

9.Cut your paper
to scale and start to draw onto this
with the 6 sides with possible imagery
that could be used.Begin to consider
how your leaflet will fold and complement its sides. Imagery and text may flow, connect, contrast
or complement colours and patterns.Essentially
you should try to create a compositional balance from one panel to the
next.

10.Before you start printing, make sure you are
completely happy with your outcome.Let
a tutor see your rough colour print outs before you print finally and
make sure your sides fit together smoothly.

11.Have a clean
pristine area to stick your finals together - take your time.Card should be used to sandwich between your
print out.Aim to have images stuck down
on card on both sides.These must be
lined up accurately before you attempt to cut through all three layers. Areas
to bend should be scored very carefully. DO NOT USE PVA or Pritt Stickuse double-sided tape or photo mount.

MINIMUM SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

A full sketchbook.The following should be inside:

§1 pageeach of
mindmapping for2 life cycles .

§6 pages on 1 life
cycle in more depth-mindmapping and
mood boards ,

§8 pages of
research on artists’ work with annotations and questions answered by the side

§1 response to 2 of these artists

§2 leaflets with research answering questions.

§25 pages of research, development and
resolvement on your chosen life cycle. These pages should show logical
development and differing ways of presenting layouts for your leaflets - i.e.
mock ups, varying images together, differing captions etc.This sketchbook should be highly annotated

To accompany your project submission you need to complete a word processed evaluation of at least 500 words, illustrating your evaluation with photographs is helpful, particularly images of your final board. Discuss anything you feel was relevant to your work in the project, but ensure you cover the following areas:

Starting out:

·What Roald Dahl story did you choose to work with? What appealed about this particular narrative, which images and scenes captured your imagination?

·Who did you look at in your initial research (into storyboarding and existing responses to Dahl’s work), did these responses appeal to you and help you to develop ideas for your own photoshoot?

·How successful were your storyboards? Did they allow you to compose shots to photograph, make you aware of potential problems, help you to identify the locations/props/models you would need?

Your Photoshoots:

·Describe how you went about your photoshoots. What lengths did you go to in order to source props/models/locations/make up.

·Do you feel your photoshoots were successful? Are there any aspects of your shoots you would do differently if you had the chance to do it again?

·Which photographer/s work did you research? Did their work appeal to you? Explain why you liked or disliked their imagery. Was this research helpful in terms of how to approach this part of the project? If the Photographers influenced you in any way explain what that was.

Drawing and Printing:

·What drawing techniques did you employ when responding to your photos, do you consider your drawings successful?

·Which Illustrators who focus on drawing did you research? Did their work appeal to you or help you with your own images, how?

·How successful were your prints, are there ways in which you could achieve even better prints in future?

Mixed Media and Photoshop:

·What techniques and imagery did you use in your collaged illustrations? Do you feel your mixed media images were successful?

·Which Illustrators who use a mixed media approach did you research? Did their work appeal to you or help you with your own images, how?

·Did you develop your work through PhotoShop? Did you integrate text into your work in any way? Are you pleased with your PhotoShop images, why?

Your Final Board:

·Was your planning for the final board helpful? Did you stick to your original plan closely?

·How did you select imagery for your final board? Did you need to produce imagery specifically for the board or adjust existing images?

·Describe how you chose to lay out your final board. Apart from your images what else did you choose to include?

·Did you encounter any problems resolving your board? How did you overcome these challenges?

·Are you pleased with your project outcome? Explain why and/or what you could do to improve it?

The Project:

·How do you feel you managed your time throughout the project, did you push yourself?

·Identify two skills you have acquired or improved upon during this project.

·Identify two areas you could improve upon in future projects.

Include a printed version of your evaluation in your sketchbook and submit with the rest of your work.